MATRIMONIAL JURISDICTION 93

does not wish to do so, may make an application
for an order giving her the custody of the children
of the marriage. If the magistrates grant the
application, they may also order the husband to
pay his wife any sum they think fit not exceeding
20s. per week for the maintenance of each child.

S. 9 of the Act allows the magistrates to give
their consent to the marriage of a person under the
age of twenty-one if it is withheld by a person
whose consent is required or if the person who
normally would be the person to give consent
cannot be found or is inaccessible, as, for example,
a person in a lunatic asylum.

OVERSEAS ORDERS

In many parts of the Empire—with Canada as
the chief exception—the Maintenance Orders
(Facilities for Enforcement) Act, 1920, allows a
provisional order to be made in England or Wales
and sent to a dominion or colony to which the
husband has absconded for confirmation. An
order already made in England or Wales may also
be sent to a dominion or colony there to be
registered. After an order is confirmed or regis-
tered it becomes payable as ib would have been in
this country and can be enforced by the overseas
court. Naturally the procedure is cumbersome
and slow but many wives have made successful
applications under the Act.

Reciprocal legislation allows wives in a dominion
or colony to send orders to England and Wales for
confirmation.